imagineNATIVE’s Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative
Toronto – August 10, 2012 – imagineNATIVE is proud to announce the Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative (SSDI) an artistic commission and national exhibition of four, one-minute digital works by award-winning Canadian Indigenous filmmakers celebrating and honouring Indigenous women and their contributions as strong, successful and valued members of society.
The SSDI is produced by imagineNATIVE, the world’s largest international festival showcasing works created by Indigenous artists in film, video, radio and new media, and is co-presented by Amnesty International Canada and Pattison Onestop, a leader in public display advertising and creative content presentations. This innovative digital artistic project is the first time the Festival has partnered to present a simultaneous exhibition on a national scale.
SSDI will be exhibited throughout Toronto’s subway system on more than 300 Pattison Onestop digital subway platform screens, on 254 digital monitors in 33 English language shopping centre display screens across Canada, at the Calgary International Airport, and at the TIFF Bell Lightbox leading up to and during the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 15 – 21, 2012.
“The passion of our partners, collaborators and artists to bring attention to such an important issue to potentially over 2.5 million commuters and shoppers is an unprecedented opportunity,” beams Daniel Northway-Frank, Programming + Industry Manager. “To challenge our artists to marry artistic style and social justice is a new and exciting venture. We hope this initiative adds a strong voice and attention to the Indigenous women’s rights movement in Canada, and spurs action and awareness through creative outlets in other Indigenous communities and countries around the world, which sadly have similar experiences.”
“I am very pleased to be part of SSDI and present this project in so many venues across Canada.” said Sharon Switzer, Arts Programmer and Curator, Pattison Onestop.
The SSDI project started as a call by imagineNATIVE and its partners to Canada’s Aboriginal artistic community to conceive of a video piece creatively reflecting and responding to the Stolen Sisters, a term adopted by the Aboriginal community and larger social justice organizations of the struggle to find answers for the over 500 official (and arguably more) unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.
Four works by award-winning artists from different regions of Canada were selected through a juried process. The four commissioned works include:
YOUR COURAGE WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED, an animated mural piece by artist and journalist ANGELA STERRITT (Gitxsan/Lax Gibu) currently living in Yellowknife, NWT.
SNARE, a stylized acrobatic tableau by filmmaker LISA JACKSON (Anishinaabe) from Vancouver, BC.
WHEN IT RAINS, a spoken word dance piece by filmmaker CARA MUMFORD (Métis/Chippewa Cree) residing in Peterborough, ON.
LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY, a documentary graffiti animation by artists and filmmakers JESSE GOUCHEY (Cree) and XSTINE COOK from Calgary, AB.
“I’m honoured to be selected to participate in the SSDI. It’s through art that we can express the human side of tragic social issues like this, so often lost in news coverage,” says Genie award-winning filmmaker, Lisa Jackson. “It’s an opportunity to recognize the women at the heart of the issue and to bring an awareness of the violence against them to a broader audience.”
Accompanying the SSDI films will be the Festival’s newly revamped website (launching late August 2012) driving viewers to a resource page featuring links to the history and movement surrounding Indigenous women’s rights, images, and artist blogs. Blogs will be posted bi-monthly leading up to the public presentation.
Full details on mall and shopping centre locations featuring the SSDI will be available on the Festival’s website,www.imaginenative.org in late August.
The Stolen Sisters Digital Initiative was funded by imagineNATIVE and Canada Council for the Arts, and is co-presented by Pattison Onestop and Amnesty International Canada.
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About the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, now in its 13th year, is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. Each October, imagineNATIVE presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s programming, industry events, panel discussions, and cultural and social events attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media. This year’s Festival runs October 17-21, 2012 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
About Pattison Onestop
Pattison Outdoor Advertising is Canada’s largest Out-of-Home advertising company, serving over 100 markets coast-to-coast. Pattison Onestop, a division of Pattison Outdoor, is a world leader in the development and operation of Digital Out-of-Home Media (DOOH) for mass transit, mall, retail, hospitality, residential, office, and outdoor environments.
www.onestopmedia.com http://www.artintransit.ca
About Amnesty International Canada
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries. We work with and for each other to defend human rights. We believe that human rights abuses anywhere are the concern of people everywhere. Until every person can enjoy all of their rights, we will continue our efforts. We will not stop until everyone can live in dignity; until every person’s voice can be heard; until no one is tortured or executed.
Our members are the cornerstone of these efforts.. Locally, nationally and globally, we join together to mobilize public pressure and show international solidarity. For the last decade, Amnesty International Canada has been honoured to stand alongside Indigenous women from across the country in demanding respect for their fundamental human rights
For more information about SDDI project, please contact: programming@imaginenative.org
For media inquiries, please contact:
Marie Nazar, Arts Publicist, Pattison Onestop – 416.762.7702 or mnazar@idirect.ca
Ingrid Hamilton, Publicist, GAT- gat@bellnet.ca
NT5
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